A Charm

By David Ferry b. 1924 David Ferry

I have a twin who bears my name;

Bears it about with him in shame;

Who goes a way I would not go;

Has knowledge of things I would not know;

When I was brave he was afraid;

He told the truth, I lied;

What’s sweet to me tastes bitter to him;

My friends, my friends, he doesn’t love them;

I walk the daylight in his dream;

He breathes the air of my nightmare.

David Ferry, “A Charm” from Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and Translations (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999). Copyright © 1999 by David Ferry. Reprinted with the permission of the author.

Source: Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and Translations (The University of Chicago Press, 1999)

Biography

David Ferry is an acclaimed American poet and translator. Ferry’s translations, which include some of the world's major works of poetry including The Odes of Horace, and both The Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, are known for their fluency and grace. In addition to his lauded translations, Ferry is also a prize-winning poet in his own right. His poetic works include Dwelling Places (1993) and Of No Country I Know: New and . . .

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